Stranger Things: 4
by Spencer8833
Summary: Picking up a few months after the Byers moved away from Hawkins, a new villain appears. Driving the group one by one back together to save a party member in danger. And one unlikely encounter. Will Eleven retrieve her powers? How will the gang get themselves out of this pickle? Find out by reading this story.
1. Chapter 1: The Swap

Chapter One: The Swap:

It's a cold December day, in which right before Christmas. The Wheeler House is lightened up by the lights traditionally hung up at Christmas.

Nancy is about to embark on her journey to Illonies- to visit Jonathan Byers- her long term boyfriend. Mike is on the couch with a dose of the flu. He's very bummed out about not being able to see Eleven and Will. William Byers was a part of their old group before their departure. Dustin and Lucas heard from Will less and less these last few months. Mike, on the other hand, calls whenever he gets the opportunity. His feelings for El has only gotten stronger throughout these few months.

Max and Lucas haven't broken up since the split in the friend group. They realized how much it would've sucked if it was one of them leaving. Mike always gets a little bit of jealousy, when Max and Lucas hang out. All he wants is Eleven back.

Like tonight- even though he's sick- Dustin, Max, and Lucas are all going to a highschool party. It's Christmas themed since tis' the season. But if Michael wasn't sick, he would still have not gone.

And it hurts Lucas' feelings. So they've grown apart in a way aswell. Max obviously goes with Lucas. And that might be a part of it as well, Mike never liked Max in the group (and made it clear). Dustin has no clue who to side with. His long-distance "girlfriend" Suzie has been teased months later about their "performance".

Mike gets up from his spot on the couch, to say goodbye to his older sister. She's going to be gone for Christmas. Which means more Christmas cookies for Mike. He wraps his blue blanket around him as he heads up the steps.

"Michael!" Mrs. Wheeler looks surprised. "You look like you're burning up."

He groans instead of agreeing with her.

"You need to get some rest, kiddo," Ted says standing up from his recliner chair.

"He looks horrible," Nancy's eyes widened.

"Nancy!" Karen yells.

"It wasn't to be mean, mom," she walks over to Mike.

Mike's face was as red as a tomato. You could feel the heat vibrations.

"I wanna see El," Nancy could barely hear him.

"You'll see her soon," Nancy pats him on the shoulder, "right now you need rest."

"No!" Mike shakes his head. "I need Eleven."

"I'll tell her you're sick and couldn't come," Nancy starts to put on her brown jacket.

"She's expecting to see me," his legs start to tremble.

"And the doctor is expecting you to be better," Karen walks back into the room with some medicine, "bottoms up."

He drinks the medicine and sits down on the floor, "that tasted gross!"

"It's medicine, it's not supposed to," Karen walks over to Nancy.

"The snow will start soon," Nancy was putting on her plaid scarf, Jonathan gave her for her birthday a few weeks ago.

"Drive safely!" Karen hugs her tightly. "You will be gone for so long."

"Only six days mom," she tries to unravel her touch.

"Six days is six years in a mother's heart," Karen tugs tighter.

"Mom!" Nancy finally unleashes. "It's time!"

Mrs. Wheeler frowns, "drive safely!"

"I'll be okay," Nancy laughs. "Promise."

"Promise you'll call right when you get there?" Ted interrupts.

"Promise," Nancy opens the door. "Bye guys!"

As she shuts the door, Mike is shaking even worse than before.

"Ted, bring him downstairs please," Karen goes into the kitchen and pops a wine bottle.

Without saying a word, Ted brings cold, shivering Micheal down the steps and lays him on the couch. It was harder now than when he was a little kid.

Steve is driving the three musketeers to their first high school party. It's all-freshman with the exception of Steve and Robin.

Max is the most dressed up she's been since "The Snowball". She's actually in a dress for once. It's a green dress with puffy sleeves.

"Never thought I'd see you in a dress, Max," laughs Lucas in the car.

"Don't get such a joke about it," she acts all serious. "I'm kidding!"

"Honestly you look super pretty," smiles Lucas at her.

"Ugh," Dustin rolls his eyes. "Gag me with a spoon."

"Would you rather us sing?" Laughs Lucas.

"What was the song again?" asks Max as a joke.

"Turn around!" yells Lucas at the top of his lungs.

"Look at what you see," adds Max.

"Posers," Dustin jokingly hits Lucas to try to get him to shut up.

"Children!" Steve raised his voice at them. "I'm trying super hard to drive here so shut up!"

"Bogus," Lucas speaks out.

"Didn't you slam into my brother with "The Todfather?" asks Max backing up Lucas.

"We're not trying to save the world," interrupts Robin. "Steve and I are trying to keep you guys safe."

"Stop with that cheesy bullshit," Dustin rolls his eyes, clearly upset.

"Damn, what's wrong with you?" Steve looks back at him.

"Watch the road dingus," Robin slaps his right arm.

"Ouch!" Steve screams.

"Stop being a baby," she turns back to the kids in the back, "Dustin what is it?"

"Nothing," he clearly wipes away the tears coming out of his eyes.

"Dude," Lucas stops joking around. "Tell us what's going on."

"Suzie…" he took a long pause. "She broke up with me."

"No, she didn't!" Max sounds upset that she would do such a thing.

They've actually been broken up for quite some time. Dusty-bun has yet to have told anyone. Hawkins, Indiana is far away from Salt-Lake-City, Utah.

"Dude, that's rough," Lucas shakes his head in disbelief. Even though it should've been expected by all of them.

"When I get my hands on her I'll," Steve went into mom mode.

"She's a child, Steve," Robin reminds him.

"And?" he sounds confused.

"And?" Robin's hazel eyes widened. "It's something called, JAIL! J-A-I-L!"

"You're to cool for her, bro," Lucas puts his arm around Dustin.

"Suzie is a loser, L-O-S-E-R!" Max tries to lighten up the mood.

"I never should have fallen for her," Dustin continues to wipe away the tears in his eyes.

"Love is a pain, bro," Lucas nods.

"Hey!" Max got offended and slapped his thigh.

"You are like thirteen," Steve shakes his head. "You have no clue what love is.''

"Hmm," pauses Robin. "You had multiple girlfriends when you were their age. Just because I'm younger doesn't mean I don't know things."

"It was messing around," Steve sounded annoyed.

"Call it what you want," she responded.

"Do you two have a thing for each other?" Max squinted.

Steve has been the only one to know about Robin's sexuality. Tammy Thompson and Robin have been going out since the beginning of the school year. Steve supports it- but he still has feelings for Robin.

He knows they're only ever going to be friends- but what it might have been always been in his mine. The poor guy hasn't had good luck with girls since Nancy Wheeler.

It took Steve a minute on how to respond to their question.

"No," he paused. "And there never will be."

"Oh," Max acts surprised. "We all thought you were sneaking around."

Robin hates that she has to keep a secret from everyone. To her, it feels like she's hiding behind a mask. And she doesn't want to be kicked out. Not another reject.

"We're best friends," Robin swallows thinking all her lies with one day go away.

"Are we almost there?" asks Dustin, finally putting himself together.

"Yes."

The Byers are all cuddled up watching a movie as a Christmas tradition. A few moons back, they were getting ready for "The Snowball." Nothing has ever been the same for the Byers the day Will went missing.

"Nancy is coming, right?" Joyce asks turning on the light.

"She should be in here within the hour," Jonathan says standing up.

"Is Mike tagging along as well?" she asks.

That caught Eleven's attention. It's been weeks since she last saw him. Thanksgiving didn't work out since ironically he was sick.

"Last I heard, yes," those words relieved Eleven since she's been dying for him to come.

Joyce bought a small house. It was a little shack. Will and Eleven have to share a room. Over the past few months, they've grown closer.

"When will he be here?" Eleven's English still isn't the best.

"Probably in the hour," Jonathan repeats himself.

"Why don't Eleven and Will go to their room," Joyce says. "While we wait for the Wheelers."

With no argument, El and Will head up to their room and sit down on Eleven's bed.

"Ever wonder what'd it be like if none of this happened?" Will asks Eleven.

"I'd still live inside the lab," she responded.

"And we boys would still play D&D," laughs Will. "you wanna know what's funny?"

"Sure?" El asks confused.

"I hated you when you and Mike started dating," he tells her the truth.

"Why?" she asks turning her head to the right.

"Mike was my best friend," Will looks down at the ground. "But then I wasn't his… you were."

"I'm sorry," Eleven stops him. "Why's that funny?"

"It's not," he adds.

"You said it was?" Eleven still has a lot to learn.

"Yeah," he didn't know how to reply to her.

"Does Mike think it's funny?" El squints.

"Probably not," laughs Will. "He loves you."

"I love him too," Eleven giggles.

The door opens and the kids immediately run out of their room.

Will and Eleven only see Nancy covered in snow, no Mike. it was the second time he wasn't there. El has been looking forward to this forever.

"Where's Mike?" she doesn't even say hello.

"I'm sorry El," her heart dropped for a second. "He has the flu, but really wishes he was here."

Eleven was disappointed- not at Mike, but at the face, she won't see him for a long time.

Steve, Robin, Dustin, Lucas, and Max all head out of the school since a blizzard is about to hit Hawkins. Fighting the white snow, they get to the car safely.

"Everyone in?" asks Steve breathing heavily.

"Yes," Robin says. "Pedal to the metal."

Max and Lucas are still holding hands while in the car. Young love is truly fascinating.

The storm is covering the road and the window. Making it hard for Steve to see- all he can see it the white death that is blocking his vision.

"I can't see!" Steve yells.

"Pull over!" Robin screams.

Lucas and Dustin scream in their highest voices possible.

Steve managest to pull over his car, in a place he actually knows.

"We need to walk down that road," he turns off the car.

"Are you crazy?" Max raises her voice at him.

"A little bit," he turns on a flashlight. "My house is down that road."

"You better be right," Lucas is trembling in fear.

"Trust me, I know these roads like my backhand," Steve opens the door and the swift wind is wild.

They walk in the wild wind and not so forgiving snow. Thankfully, it was a short walk so none of them got frostbite.

Like the mother he is, he leads them to his house. None of his parents are home so it's only going to be them.

He unlocks the door and they all step inside. While Steve tries to turn on the lights, it doesn't work.

"The powers out!" Steve snaps.

"No shit sherlock," Dustin responds. "This is some kickass storm."

"When the power kicks in, call your parents," Robin says sitting down on Steve couch.

"You guys might be here for a while," Steve goes into the closet to get blankets for everyone. "So get bundled up."

"All of us should huddle together," Lucas suggests. "Like penguins."

"You're a dweeb," scouts Max.

"But I'm adorable," he smiles at her.

"Keep telling your self that," laughs Max.

"You should be the one telling me that," he tells her wrapping a blanket around them.

"Stop your lovey-dovey stuff and come and sit," Steve says shivering.

"We should get some sleep," Dustin shakes.

"Agreed."

It's three o'clock in the morning. A large thud is at Wheeler's door. Mike bolts up, and after realizing it wasn't a dream, he decided to listen.

There's another one, but this time it's chanting.

"Mike!" it paused for a second. "We have something for you!"

His thoughts were just drunk people walking the streets. Today was the highschool party after all. Seniors are known for drinking beers in the streets at this hour.

Or it could possibly be his sickness. It's probably not even there. But still, something urges him to go investigate the issue.

A blue shadow appears to be around the door. When getting closer, it was a blue ball. It looked like a holograph. Very unrealistic. Even though his brain wanted to turn back, a force pulled him closer to it.

Now inches away from this mysterious this, his hand went out to touch it. Hands that were the same as he's reached out and pulled him into the holograph.

Trying to scream but nothing was coming out. But now in the blue ball, there was him. It looked the same, but it wasn't a reflection.

"Hello Mike," the clone said.

"Hello?" sounding confused.

"I'm you," his voice got raspy. "Just better.''

"What are you doing?" Mike asks looking around.

"I'm ending you," it laughs like a villain.

"Huh?" Mike turns around to the surprised of him getting hit by an object.


	2. Chapter 2: The Vision

Mike awakens in an unknown place. His vision was a little funky. Head pounding with pain.

"And he awakes," says a deep voice, but this voice was familiar.

"Who are you?" his vision now becomes normal, and he sees the back of a man. The man's hair was overgrown. But what caught his attention, a putrid stench.

"Come on," he shakes his head. "It hasn't been that long!"

An old stinky man turns around to reveal who he actually is.

Even in Mike's bad state, he's in, can still make out that this was an old "friend" of his.

The man is no other than, "Hopper?"

Eleven goes to sleep all bummed out. She really wanted to see Mike again. All her excitement was to see him.

Nancy, Jonathan, and Joyce turned on another movie, but Will and Eleven went to their bedroom.

_Has Mike found someone else? Does he not want me anymore? _The thoughts rushed in her mind. She was terrified if they were actually real.

"Will?'' Eleven whispers to see if he's still awake.

There's no response, to El switches off her light and tries to put her thoughts to rest.

_I'll call him early in the morning, so I can check-in. _She thinks once more before resting her eyes.

Ever since she has lost her powers, Eleven has learned the difference between a dream, and a sight. It wasn't very hard since she could see herself in some of them. And had a little bit of control over them.

As the power of sleep kicks into El, this doesn't seem like a dream. There's the watery bottom at her feet, but she sees Mike. He looks horrible like the sickness has gotten to him.

"Mike?" she whispers in hopes he will hear her. "It's Eleven."

It seems he has heard her since he got up and walked to the stairs.

"I'm here," she whispers- but Michael just walks right past her.

_He can't see me? _

Mike stumbled over to a blue shadow. It was circular and seemed unreal. Went over to it and put his hand in it. Something pulled Mike into the mysterious thing.

Eleven started to scream and transformed out of her dream. As always, when she uses her powers, blood dripped down her nose. This time there was a pile of blood on her white pillow. To her, it conformed that Mike is in trouble.

She stands up to go awaken William, "Will!"

Eleven keeps shaking him until he gives in and sits up. Will looked so zoned out- almost looked like a zombie.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Will shakes his head in anger.

"Something happened," Eleven whispers.

"Bad?" even in the darkness, you could tell Will's eyes widened a bit.

"Something bad, bad," El shakes her head while wiping her nose.

"Did your powers come back?" he asks, taking note of how the blood on her nose.

"I'm not sure," Eleven replies groggily.

"Why did you wake me up?" he asks putting a blanket over him.

"Bad," she paused. "Happened to Mike."

"Is Mike in trouble?" Will's eyes widened again.

"I don't know," El didn't know what to make of the vision she has seen.

"What happened?" Will asks. "In your vision."

"He got sucked in by something," she replies. "And it didn't want me to see anything else."

"I think we both know what we need to do," Will's voice sounded commanding. "We need to get our asses back to Hawkins."

"How do we do so?'' Eleven asks.

"Hitch a ride," he stands up and walks out the door. Eleven follows as they both walk carefully down the hallway. Trying not to make a sound.

They got to the door without a problem, open it, and like that, they're off to Hawkins.

Will and Eleven got a ride by some trucker. One similar to the one who gave El a ride a few years prior.

"Where you two crazy kids off to on a snowy day?" asks the man. The man was tall, had a long beard, and glasses.

"Hawkins, Indiana," Will adds.

Something urges El to speak up about the specifics. The snow was pretty bad and she knew Steve was bringing to others to a highschool party.

"23334 centerfield lane," Eleven finally speaks out on her own.

"That's Steve's house," Will whispers.

"Max, Lucas, and Dustin will be there," she replies.

"You better be right," Will responds.

"Why are you guys out so far from home?" the creepy old man asks.

"Personal issues," Eleven kept the answer short since she doesn't really trust a lot of people.

"Well alright," he nods as he flies down the road.

Snow is everywhere, on the road. It's impressive that this guy can roll down the road.

Mike is in complete shock over Hopper's appearance.

"I've been gone for a few months," he shakes his head. "Not a few years!"

"Holy shit," Mike whispers. "What happened to you?"

"These Russians," Hopper nods. "And whatever the hell something is."

"Whatever what is?" Mike asks because Hopper is making no sense to him.

"I don't know," he replied. "It morphs into shit."

Mike connected two dots, the blue orb and that clone was all the same person.

"That's what took me," Mike admits to Hop. "And a thing that was the same as me."

"It has started," Jim says punching the wall. "You son of a bitches have done it!"

To Mike, none of this makes sense, "done what?"

"They've wanted human domination," he sits down on the bed.

"Hopper we all thought you died," Mike says abruptly.

"That's just great," his sarcasm came out.

"It is?" Mike sounded confused.

"Goddamnit," he rolled his eyes. "How's El?''

"I don't know," he replies. The power has been so funky, it's hard to stay in contact.

"You don't know?" Jim sounded confused.

"She moved away with the Byers," Michael admitted to him. "Haven't seen her for months."

"Have you talked to her?" Jim asks.

"Yes."

"Does she seem okay?" Hopper asks once again.

"Yes."

"That's good," Jim nods. "How has Hawkins been?"

Mike doesn't hesitate this answer, "not the same."

"You go missing for a few months and everything falls apart," he almosts starts to laugh. "If I wasn't a cop I'd never be in a Russian base."

Mike laughs, this was one of the best moments he and Hopper ever had. It was funny to him because they never got along.

"Do you just sit in here all day?" Michael asks.

"Oh no," Hopper frowns. "It's clear you're very very new."

A bell rings in their cell and Hopper stands up, "and like that, the torture shall begin."

The power has finally returned to Hawkins. All the kids are up and sitting on the couch watching T.V shows.

"I'm making a grilled cheese sandwich for you guys," Steve yells from the kitchen.

"You can cook?" yells Robin.

"The house might burn down," laughs Lucas.

"You little shit-heads aren't funny," Steve throws back at them.

Max stood up to look out the window, and the snow is still coming but slowing down. There must be over a foot of snow on Steve's driveway.

"Snow is pilling up," she says moving back to the couch.

"Can't wait for the cheese," smiles Dustin.

"Aren't you lactose intolerant?" Lucas looks at him weirdly.

"Just because I can't eat it doesn't mean I won't," Dustin points at his stomach.

"You can get sick," Max adds.

"Let him eat what he wants," Robin buts in. "He's dealing with the consequences.''

"Spot on," Dustin gives Robin a high five.

"Whateva," Lucas rolls his eyes.

"Does anyone know how Mike is?" asks Max.

Everyone thought it was weird Max asked about Mike. it's obvious they loathe each other.

"Haven't heard from him in a hot second," Dustin replies.

"As I've said before, we've grown apart," Lucas sighs. "Ever since Will and Eleven left."

"Our group of six, went down to three," Max crosses her arms.

"That's sad," Robin cuts in again. "I've never had many friends so I never had to worry about that."

"It's even sadder," Dustin swallows. "We all share each other's pain."

"If we did things differently," Max pauses. "All of us should have helped Mike."

"Agreed," Lucas nods.

A loud thud pounds the door. They all look to each other- since Steve didn't mention a guest.

_Maybe it's his parents? _ Max thought.

_It could possibly be my mom, _Dustin thought.

_Tammy better not show up, _Robin's stomach turns inside out.

_I swear if Erica wants to come and play in the snow, I'm going to shoot myself, _Lucas thinks.

All of their suspicions were wrong. Last night Steve must have forgotten to lock the door. Since the unwelcomed guest just opens the door.

In a snowy mess, two familiar friends step into the light. Eleven with her bloody nose, along with Will.

"Hello," Eleven seems all sinister like.


	3. Chapter 3: The Visit

"Eleven?" Max's blue eyes widened.

"Will!" Lucas jumps up with excitement.

"How?" Robin looks confused at them.

"Something happened," Will finally speaks.

Everyone thinks it has something to due with Will- after all, everything seems to happen to him.

"Something bad," responds Eleven.

Steve walks in with the grilled cheese, but when he sees the unexpected guests, his mouth hits the floor. And so does the sandwiches, considering they fell on the floor.

"Holy shit," he rubs his eyes to make sure he isn't seeing things. But El and Will are still there.

Eleven looks different from the last time they all saw her. The once bald head is covered with long flowing brown hair. She must be freezing since she's in a long-sleeved shirt, and the only thing covering her legs are overalls. Long high grey socks, go above her winter boots.

"You dropped our food, dumbass," Dustin rolls his eyes.

"Maybe it's a sign you should stop eating dairy," Robin snaps at Dustin.

"I shall eat dairy forever," Dustin says in a British accent.

"You're an airhead," Lucas rolls his eyes.

Lucas and Dustin get into a bit of an argument, while the others just stand there.

"Guys!" yells Eleven, "there's a serious issue."

Joyce awoke to a cold breeze. The snow didn't hit that bad in Illinois. Only about four inches were on the ground. Maybe a little less.

The T.V was left on. Joyce forgot to turn it off before she fell asleep on the couch.

She puts on her winter coat and walks outside to take a smoke. Ever since Hopper died she hasn't smoked much. It wasn't the same without him.

Shivering outside due to the cold weather, smoking wasn't worth getting frostbite. So Joyce heads back in to see Nancy and Jonathan at the breakfast table.

"What do you guys want to eat?" she asks looking in the refrigerator.

"It doesn't matter," Nancy smiles.

"Blueberry eggos it is," the fridge was picked over so that was the only option.

"Jonathan, what time is it?" Joyce asks.

"8:45," he replies looking down at his watch.

"Would you mind waking up Ja- I mean Eleven," she asks turning on the microwave.

At Eleven's new school, everyone knew her as "Plane Jane." She was super quiet, had only one friend (Will), and stayed to herself. The kids called her, "Weirdo," or sometimes, "Goober."

El's feelings weren't hurt though. She wanted to impress, Mike. And why try if he wasn't even going there. Somedays Eleven wishes she stayed in Hawkins. By most, that was where she was expected.

"Yeah," Jonathan stands up and heads to their bedroom. "Nancy, you coming?"

Nancy stands up, "sure!"

They walk down the hallway to see the door was open. Usually, they sleep with the door closed since it makes them feel better.

Jonathan opens the door and is shocked. They're not there. Nowhere in sight.

"Will this isn't funny," there was a prank a few weeks ago when Will hid in the closet.

"He's not here?" Nancy asks.

Jonathan ignores her and goes over to the closet. Opens it and no one is inside of it. That's when he starts to worry.

Nancy walks over to Eleven's bed and there's blood all over the pillow.

"Jonathan!" Nancy raises her voice. "Look!"

She holds up the bloody pillow and it was heavy. The blood wasn't completely dry yet. Nancy has a reddish tint to her fingertips.

"What the hell?" Jonathan huffs over there.

"Something happened here," she whispers putting down the pillow.

"El," he paused.

"El, what?" Nancy looks at him confused.

"When she uses her powers-"

"Get's a bloody nose," she finishes- finally connecting the dots.

Footsteps coming closer, adding an eerie feeling to them. _Bun… bun... Bun… _

"What the hell is going on here?" Joyce stumbles in… causing both Nancy and Jonathan's soul to jump out of their skin. "Is that blood?"

"Mom," he throws his hands out.

"Where's Will?" her face frantically searches the room. "And Ja- Eleven?"

"Something happened," Nancy steps forward.

"But we don't know what."

"We need to go find them," Joyce angerly stomps her feet like a two-year-old when they don't get the toy they wanted.

"Mom!" Jonathan yells. "Where the hell do we even start?"

"In my gut, it tells me, Hawkins," she points her fingers.

"Didn't we move to escape the fear?" he rolls his eyes.

"Maybe it followed us here," Joyce shakes her head. "We need to find them."

"Let's call Mike," Nancy walks towards the phone. "If they go back to Hawkins, Mike would know."

"She has a point," he nods.

"Of course I do," while she gets to the sunflower yellow phone, it starts to ring.

_Bring… Bring… Bring… _

Joyce angerly answers and screams into it, "No! We don't want a freaking newspaper!"

"Joyce no!" yells the other line.

"Who?" the voice sounds so familiar to her.

It was like when you meet a penpal for the first time, you feel like you've known them your whole life.

"It's Murray," the man repeats into the phone.

"I'm dealing with a bit of an issue right here," she almost hangs up the phone.

"This is a part of the problem," he replies.

"You have two minutes.''

"How fast can you get to my house?" Murray asks quickly.

"I don't know?" a questionable sound was used.

"Think Joyce," she could tell Murray was getting a little annoyed.

"On a train maybe two hours," Joyce wonders why he asked such an odd question. "This is relevant how?"

"Will."

"You know where he went?" she screams louder and hopefull.

"It's too risky to say over the phone," Murray whispers. "Come to my house, please."

"We will be there."

Mike and Hopper are walking down the hundred flights of steps. At the bottom is where they'll interrogate you. Find loops in your stories.

"Don't give away anything, okay?" Hopper whispers so they won't hear them.

"Okay," Michael whispers back.

The walk continues as they're in two different lines. Mike's stomach is turning inside out due to the outcome. He doesn't know what to expect- he might end up looking like Steve a few months ago. And that's not a good thing. Being drugged to talk.

Mike is forced into a room with one Russian guard. There are no windows, so the room is lightened by a candle.

"Michael Wheeler, correct?" the guard speaks.

"Correct," he's shivering with fear.

"Do you know why you're here?" the man asks.

"No," he says sternly.

"Lucky for you," the Russian smiles. "You were telling the truth."

"And if I don't?" Michael asks.

"It won't hurt," he paused. "Me at least."

"Ask me questions," Mike shrugs.

"When was the last time you saw the science experiment," the man doesn't even know her name. I here, she's known as "science experiment."

"You mean Eleven?" his sarcasm shouldn't be used here.

"So she has a name?" he smirks.

"Eleven's not some lab rat you can abuse," Mike is honestly speaking the truth.

"Keep your opinions to yourself," Guard puts on his gloves.

"I speak facts, dumbass," he spits in his face.

"A kid like you shouldn't use that word," the Russian pops him in the nose.

Mike's nose, now bleeding, he realizes the trouble that he has somehow gotten into.

"Now, listen," laughs the guard. "And we respect each other."

"What happened?" Lucas pushes himself to the front of the group.

"I- I had a vision," El looks down at her feet.

"You lost your powers?" Max is intrigued. "How?"

"We all thought she did," Will buts in. "Maybe they're slowly coming back."

"But what did you see, Eleven?" Steve crosses his arms.

"Mike was walking and there was a blue shadow. It pulled him in," El got the chills repeating it to them.

"A new thing is back," Will sits down on Steve's couch.

"There's one way to know for sure," Robin grabs El's hands and brings her over to the phone. "Call Mike to see."

Eleven diles his number and it took six rings for him to finally pick up. Which is odd, it usually takes him one or two when he's home.

"Hello?" the voice sounded more deep than usual.

"Are you okay?" she asks right off the bat.

"Yes, Jane," that was a huge red flag, Mike never called her Jane.

"This is Mike Wheeler, correct?" El squints in confusion.

"Who would it be?" he almost sounds annoyed that she called. "I gotta go, bye!''

"Bye?" Eleven was cut off by Mike.

She hung up the phone, and it was probably one of the worse conversations she's ever had.

"What happened?" Dustin asks.

"He was weird," Eleven shook her head.

"Mike's always weird," Max adds.

"Not like this," El responded. "He called me Jane, he never does that."

"Did he sound sick?" Lucas asks.

"Not at all," she looked back up at them. "His voice was deeper."

"I know he's sick," Lucas responds. "My dad's a doctor and saw him earlier this week."

"What else happened in your dream?" Steve turns his head.

"Mike came back out," El forgot to mention that at the beginning. "But the vibe was off."

"It's him, but not him?" Robin looks confused.

"Like what happened to Billy last year," Dustin points out.

"Precisely!" yells Lucas.

"We need to go to Mike's," Max nods her head. "Something could be seriously wrong with him."

"Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler won't be there, correct?" Dustin asks.

"He sounded like he was alone," El shrugged her shoulders.

"Let's go now," Will stands up. "Right now!"

Everyone gets up, with the exception of Steve. He's feeling around his pockets.

"Dingus, are you coming or not?" Robin yells at Steve.

"I can't find my keys," Steve yells back at her.

"They're around your neck, dipshit," Dustin screams at him.

"They aren't my car keys, dickhead," Steve runs into the other room.

Eleven walks into the bathroom, in hopes to find the missing keys. When she gets into the room, her eyes closed and she's back in a trance.

It's not Mike this time, it's Hopper. Hopper? He died back in Starcourt.

He looks to be in a very dark room, piles of blood all around him. Nose looking like it's suffered the most.

"We are nowhere close in finding the girl," a man dressed in brown says.

"He'll find her," laughs the other.

"He better, or it's your funeral."

Eleven snapped out of her trance and started to breathe heavily.

Max rushed into the room, her eyes as big as a raccoon's.

"El, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Hopper," she barely made out.

"What about Hopper?" Max bends down next to her.

"He might be alive."

Nancy, Joyce, and Jonathan get off the train and head to Murray's house. His house was in walking distance. They only had to walk about a quarter-mile. The walk was silent other than the occasional, cough.

When Murray's sight was in view, their pace got faster as the kicked in. Wondering what Murray found out.

Joyce get's to the house firsts and he immediately pops out.

"It not over, Joyce."


	4. Chapter 4: The Clue

"What's not over?" Joyce barges into his cluttered mess.

"They're back," he takes a deep breath.

"Russians?" Nancy buts in.

"And something that I can't describe right now," Murray shakes his head.

"What does that suppose to mean?" asks Jonathan.

"It means, the Russians have an alliance," he screams.

"With who?" Joyce asks.

"Something like the one girl with powers," Murray used his hands to talk.

"Eleven," Nancy whispers.

"Whatever," Murray got annoyed with the "children."

"So why did you bring us here?" Joyce asks.

"Will and Eleven are most definitely back in Hawkins."

"Aw, shit," whispers Jonathan.

"How do you know?" Nancy speaks.

"There was a call I had bugged," nods Murray. "'The labrat and her friend are in Hawkins.'"

The trucker that Will and Eleven took, was part of the evil forces.

"Goddamnit!" Joyce kicks his ugly, brown couch.

"Now what did that couch ever do to you?" he throws his hands up.

"Don't start with me now," she yells at him. "We're going straight to Hawkins!"

"I fixed up "The Todfather" if you wanna take it," Murray asks.

"That's important how?" Jonathan shakes his head at him.

"It was a cool ride," he admits.

"Steve will love to see that," Nancy laughs.

"The car doesn't matter!" yells Joyce.

"We should take two cars," Jonathan nods. "So if anything happens we'll be okay."

"Agreed," Nancy starts to head towards the door. "Jonathan and I will take Joyce's car."

"Guys get out of here," Murray swifts his hands to outside.

"You're driving," Joyce yells at him.

"God forbid you to drive us," his sarcasm comes out.

"Don't start with me," Joyce points at him.

"Joyce," he paused.

"Yes?"

"I believe Jim is still alive," Murray starts the car and flies down the road.

"So you survived your first beating," Hopper says while Mike sits up.

Michael grabs his nose in agony, it was blocked by a white wrap.

"My nose?" he starts to tremble off. "My head! Everything aches."

"I've been doing this rodeo for months now kiddo," scouts Hopper. "You'll soon turn numb.''

"Numb to what?"

"Pain," without hesitation Hop speaks. "Even emotion.''

"You'll turn into a brick wall," Mike nods. "Did you?"

"These Russians think they have," Jim shakes his head. "But no they haven't."

The head of the Russian army storms into their cell, uninvited.

"I see you've woken up from your slumber," he laughs. "Your nose?"

"It's all fine thanks to you," Mike couldn't help but use his sarcastic sense of humor.

"What we're here for," The head throws his hands up. "You are destroying your fate, Mr."

"He's a goddamn kid," Hop shakes his head. "Doesn't know any better."

"All kids should know not to disrespect adults," the man is now pacing back and forward.

"Adults shouldn't kidnap," whispers Michael.

Jim Hopper kicks him in the leg to try to get him to shut up. These people are capable of so much more than a broken nose.

"So, I guess you want to know our plan?" he's still pacing around, click-clack his feet go.

"It would be preferred," Hopper nods.

"You two are leading your precious Eleven to us," the man flicks his hand.

"What do you mean?" Mike suddenly gets serious.

"We've been blocking her powers," he smirks. "In a certain way."

"El never lost her powers?" Jim looks over at Mike confused.

"The girl got bit by our creation," nods the Russian. "We put a device on it to help regulate her powers."

"How is she getting led here?" Hop asks worriedly.

"She saw Mike getting swapped," laughs the evil man. "And Hopper getting beaten up."

"I'll see you in hell," Mike whispers.

"Mr. Wheeler?" the man didn't hear him clearly.

"I said," he slows down, "I'll see you in hell, you piece of shit!"

"What did we learn about," asks the Russian. "Respect."

"If you land a hand on her I'll kill you," screams Michael.

"We've located her, and your little friends as well," he smirks

"It's never going to work," Mike shakes his head.

"But it already did."

"How?" questions Michael.

"You've shown us your weakness," he does his evil laugh. "The labrat."

"For the last time, her name is Eleven. E-l-e-v-e-n!" screams Mike.

"You proved my point," the guard rolls his eyes. "Damn, this was super easy."

"Neither of you or those things is going to mess with Eleven anymore!" he punches the wall repeatedly.

"Don't have a cow," smirks the man. "We already won."

The guard walks out of the room with a huge grin from ear to ear.

"Holy shit!" Hopper stands up and whispers.

"What?" Mike says still upset.

"I know how to beat their plan."

"Hopper?" yells Max.

"It's crazy," nods Eleven. "He was knocked out on the floor.''

"Damn," whispers Max. "If he's alive, he's probably with Mike."

"He was in a base," El starts to shake.

Steve barges into the bathroom, holding his keys in sight, "you two ready?"

"Yes," Max stands up.

"Why were you guys on the floor?" asks Steve.

"El tripped so I helped her up," lies Max.

"Oh, okay," he walks out the door.

"Why did we lie?" El looks confused.

"Sometimes it's okay to lie," nods Max.

"Friends don't lie," Eleven shakes her head.

"Steve's not a friend," laughs Max. "He's a mom."

"Steve's a girl?" El asks questionable.

"No!" Max screams. "I'll explain it to you later."

She pulls El's wrist until they get to the car. Luckily Steve ran and got the car, and brought it back up here.

They hop in the way back, with Will, and start to drive to Mike.

"Guys," paused Lucas.

"What is it stalker?" Max smirks.

"What if Mike isn't Mike?" asks Lucas.

"He might attack us," Dustin agrees.

"Not might, will if he's anything like Billy," Robin replies.

"Well," paused Steve. "We're about to find out."

The Wheeler's house is yards away from where they're parked. Steve gets out of the car first, as the rest follow. Their stomach's turn as they don't know what to expect.

Instead of knocking like normal humans, they can't. The door was wide open and as so were the windows.

"This is strange," whispers Will.

"No shit Sherlock," Dustin fades to the back as his fear overcomes him.

As they enter the house, it's very chilly. Not like a sick kid would like it.

"Mike?" yells Steve.

"Downstairs," points Max.

"Get behind me," Steve goes first. "Fight back if we need to."

"Mike!" Eleven saw him on the couch.

Mike looked awful. He was so sweaty, lips quivering, and body shaking. His eyes were staring at the window, the snow.

"Mike!" Lucas yells louder than El.

He jolts up as it was a surprise to him.

"We're here to talk to you Mike," El's eyes get huge at the mess of a sight.

"I'm fine," his voice seems deeper than usual.

"No you're not," Steve shakes his head. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing happened," he rolls his eyes.

"You're acting insane," Max points out.

"Why are your windows and door open?" Will is trying to make the connection. "It's the middle of winter."

"I like it cold, is that a problem?" he rolls his eyes.

"You don't seem okay," Eleven shakes her head.

"Guys, it's Michael," nods Mike. "And I'm in love with Jane."

You could hear a pin drop in that room, Mike never calls her Jane.

"I'll walk him upstairs to make lunch," Steve says starting to walk up the stairs. "Mike you better becoming."

"Now that I think," he trailed off for a few seconds. "Mike's hungry!"

Robin, Eleven, Will, Dustin, Max, and Lucas stay downstairs talking about how weird Mike is being.

"That's not him," Robin shakes her head. "No way it's normal Mike."

"It's like he knows all the basics," Max brings up.

"Yeah," nods Lucas. "Agreed."

"Like how he called Eleven, Jane," Dustin adds in a point.

"Very odd," El makes out.

"I don't think he's flayed though," Robin shakes her head.

"Kinda like he's been replaced by an alter ego," Dustin thinks, eyes get really wide, "what happened after your dream?''

"Vision!" Lucas corrects him.

"He came back," Eleven nods. "But he seemed different."

"Almost like he's been cloned in a way," Lucas' eyes get huge.

"Cloning is scientifically impossible," Dustin rolls his eyes.

"I've learned one thing from Hawkins," Lucas holds his hands up. "Anything is possible."

"We have to figure out how and if we can reach the real Mike," Max nods.

"If?" Eleven looks confused.

"No one knows if we can reach him El," frowns Robin. "He could be anywhere in the area… or the world."

"We're going to find him!" El stomps her foot.

"Look on the positives," Will shrugs. "Already, we know that Mike was swapped somehow."

"Hopper, what is it?" Mike whispers in fear of the Russians hearing them.

"Yes," laughs Hopper. "This is so obvious it hurts me that I never knew this!"

"Knew what?" Michael asks. "Hopper tell me what you know!"

"Know a way to beat the system," he laughs due to it's obvious.

"All we need to do is shut off the power," nods Jim Hopper.

"Great," Mike paused. "How do we do that if we're stuck in hear all the time?"

"Don't worry, I have a kick-ass plan."


	5. Chapter 5: The Lost

"We have to get gas," says Joyce, pointing at the car.

"Point out the window so Nancy and Jonathan know what to do," paused Murray. "There's one right there."

Joyce sticks her finger out the window as they pull into the gas station. Nancy pulls over and they park in the parking lot.

"I'm going to call Mike and ask him about it," Joyce moves into the small store that connects.

There's one blue phone in the way back of the store, and you must give two quarters in order for it to work. She dials the number, and it takes one ring for Michael to pick up the phone.

"Who is this?" Mike asks in a deep voice. It's been a few months, how has his voice gotten this deep so quickly?

"Joyce," she paused. "Byers."

"Do you need something?" his voice sounded annoyed, almost as if he thought he was too good to take to her.

"Is Will there?" she whispers, due to not knowing who might be around.

"Oh, no," Michael is not himself.

"Do you know where he is?" Joyce says a little bit louder, and more frustrated.

"No clue," it's very sarcastic.

"Shit!" she screams.

"Don't be upset," the voice on the other end got super deep. "You have Murray."

Then Mike hung up leaving Joyce in shock. Already, she knew that it wasn't Mike she was talking too. Still, in her gut, Hawkins is where they need to go.

Storming out of the store all mad, and walking her way over to the cars.

"Geez," Murray shakes his head. "Don't seem to happy."

"Somethings wrong with Mike," nods Joyce.

"What!" Nancy looks suddenly intrigued.

"He wasn't him on the phone," Joyce squints. "Almost like a clone."

"Clone!" Murray jumps up and down. "That's what Jim must have been told."

"Jim? Jim Hopper? Hopper? Hopper Jim?" Jonathan looks puzzled.

"There are facts and clues on how he's still alive," Murray nods.

"And you're telling us this now?" Nancy throws her hands up.

"Better now than later," yells Murray.

"What are the clues?" Jonathan interrupts.

"The call had Jim's voice in the background," Murray looks down at his feet, "he's been captive all this time."

The group has been so distracted that they've forgotten that the snow has been piling up.

"No way in hell are we driving in this," Jonathan starts to walk to the store.

"Agreed," Murray follows.

"Maybe if there wasn't so much blabbering," Nancy rolls her eyes, but ultimately agrees.

"Tomorrow may be too late," she starts to form tears in her eyes.

"Mom, we'll get their as early as possible," Jonathan nods.

"What if we miss our opportunity?" she frowns.

"The whole gang is probably together now," Nancy tries to calm Joyce down.

"And they will be safe and sound together," Murray walks into the store.

"You guys better get comfy," the store owner chews his gum loudly, "and one rule."

"And it is?" Murray rolls his eyes.

"No couples in the back," you could tell he's having a rough day, snow blizzard traffic.

"We weren't planning on that," Nancy goes and sits down on one of the tables.

And all five of them knew, it was going to be an interesting night.

"Mike is still odd," Will was the first one awake, next to Mike, he didn't get any sleep.

"We need out what happened now," Steve agrees.

"El told us," Mad Max snaps back, "if you dinguses can pay attention."

"Yeah," Lucas nods, "but not by what."

"If Eleven has a number on her arm, why wouldn't Mike?" Dustin brings up.

"But if we touch him, he can kill us with an eye closed," Robin adds.

"That means we need to be careful," nods Steve, "none of us can get hurt."

"He's locked in his room right now though," Eleven says.

Mike is inside his room looking around. Only a matter of time until he changes back into his original form. His original form was a mix of a Demogorgon and a human. The body was the color of a Demogorgon, but the rest was human… other than his twenty-seven rows of teeth.

"Domination," whispers Mike.

Michael's skin is changing color a little bit now. Once he changes out of his form, he'll have to wait days before he can change again.

His tattoo is on a different body part, not on the wrist. D-22 is written on the index finger. No one knows why they're written of different spots. D-22 and D-6 were fortunate to be captured by the Russians, they don't treat them bad. How do you treat your boss bad?

They want revenge on Eleven, due to her powers. And Russians want a way into America. So they teamed up and formed an unstoppable alliance.

In their eyes, Eleven got "special treatment" by being let go of the public eye. And they wanted to be the ones who did.

"Mike," Robin knocks on the door, she lost the game of straws so she has to be the one to knock.

"W-what?" his voice got even deeper.

"Can you open the door for us?" Robin's soft voice whispers.

"I'm getting changed," lies Michael.

"We both know that's not true," she tries to get him to agree.

"You want something?" the voice had a bit of a question to it.

"Open the damn door," she knocks a little louder.

"Tammy isn't on the other end," responds Mike, "you know that right."

"Piece of shit open the door," Steve screams, getting upset at the comment yelled at Robin.

The other kids decide not to ask about what was said, due to the fact that there are bigger issues going on right now.

"If I must," the door opens real quickly, a blueish hand comes out and grabs ahold of Robin.

Screams everywhere, Steve tried to make it to the door, but he was too late.

"Help!" she yelled on the other side.

Mike has Robin on the floor, tied her up with a rope, and sat down next to her. With being tossed around, she has a few bruises and scratches. One of which is bleeding on her face.

"If you stay still, it'll be done quicker," Mike whispers in her ear.

"Wh- what are you doing?" her hands tremble with fear.

"Domination," he laughs after saying that.

"You're not Mike," she shakes her head, "you're a selfish son of a bitch."

"That little piece of shit is long gone," he's turning bluish-white color, revealing he's not the actual Mike Wheeler.

"What did you do to him!" Robin tries to fumble out of the ties.

"You will find out very soon," Mike's eyes are turning black.

"Steve help!" screams Robin at the top of her lungs.

"Steve's no momma now," the thing walks back towards the door.

But what that a bad decision.

Steve runs to the door, in his mind, he can save Robin.

"What's he doing to her?" Dustin whispers.

"How the hell are we supposed to know," Max slaps him on the head.

"We have to break down the door," whispers Lucas.

"Agreed," nods Will, "then a way to get Mike back."

"Right now, we need to get Robin," Eleven whispers.

"Before it's too late," adds Will.

"Break down the door," Dustin stands up. "Break DOWN, the door!"

"How?" Lucas looks confused.

"There's six of us," nods Steve, "one of whatever that thing is."

"Pressure on the door," Max agrees.

"Get lined up," commands Dustin.

They run into the door, breaking it on the first go. It lands on something, and that something is Mike. Robin is crying and tied up.

Steve rushes over to Robin is fear, but ultimately was able to get her untied. They hug while the kids are standing, looking at Mike.

"We need to find Mike," whispers El.

"He's in trouble," agrees Will.

"That thing is evil," Robin and Steve walked over to them.

"Did it say anything?" questions Lucas.

"He led me to believe I was going to join Mike, but not sure where he is," Robin nodded. "But we need to get that thing under control before it wakes up.

"We can tie it up and keep it on the couch," agrees Dustin.

"How are we going to explain it to the Wheelers?" Max looks confused.

"They're visiting family," Will nods, "they always do on Christmas."

"Good," Dustin responds, "but we have bigger fish to fry."

"What's your plan?" Mike asks sitting up from his hard boxspring.

"What powers this electricity?" Hopper asks Mike.

"Probably generators," he nods.

"And what controls Elevens powers?" Jim asks Mike another obvious question.

"The generators," Mike says questionably.

"We can shut them off," Hopper laughs.

"And if we shut them off," Mike starts to get into the theory.

"This hell hole will have two fewer prisoners," smiles Jim.

"And Eleven will finally get her powers back," nods Mike.

"I will live at Hawkins once again,'' he smiles for the first time in a while.

"And I'll be able to see El again," smiles Mike from ear to ear.

"Not every day," Hopper's dad sense kicks in.

"Why not every day?" their getting along has soon stopped.

"You and El are too young to start doing things," Jim shakes his head.

"Disgusting!" he makes a gross face, "her and I would never."

"Kissing leads to touching," Hop rolls his eyes, "and El doesn't need that… either do you."

"We aren't doing anything gross," Mike has a disgusted look on his face.

"I was a teenager before," he shakes his head.

"Yeah like a century ago," Michael raises his voice at Hopper.

"You're being real disrespectful," Jim sits down on a boxspring.

"Look, I love her,'' Mike nods.

"You have no clue what love is," Hop shakes his head.

"I know you give anything for them," Mike paused, "loving them unconditionally, missing them until they come back to you, giving anything just to hear their voice, and feeling like you'd do anything, even if it destroys you, it's called love."

"Damn, kid," Hopper nods, "I guess I wasn't ready to give her to you."

"I'm sorry for how disrespectful I've been," nods Mike.

"Understandable under what has happened the past few years," Jim tears up.

"And I should have been different towards you," he paused, "bu- bu-."

"But she was with me when you lost her."

"Hit the nail on the head," Mike nodded.

"Mike, you have lost her twice, gave that kid love when she thought she'd never had any, loved her no matter what she looked like, and gave her a second chance at life," Jim had a visible tear.

"Wow, so you're allowing me to see her?" he eagerly says. "If we ever get out."

"I realize you do truly love her," Hop smiles, "you both are good kids."

"Wow!" Mike laughs. "This is the kindest you've ever been to me."

"It might not happen again, like this," points out Hopper, "so enjoy this, and my emotion."

"Thank you," Michael smiles.

"Thank yourself," Hopper replies, "you're the one who proven themselves worthy of a relationship."

"But I have to say," Mike paused, "this happened because you hid El from me, and I was angry at you, but now, finally forgive you."

"We can finally put this silly shit behind us," laughs Hopper.

"Finally," smiles Mike.

"Finally," Hopper smiles back.

Their happy moment soon came to an end, as a new guard came into the cell.

"I hope your night was well," nods the guard.

"What do you guys what now?" asks Mike, not being very respectful.

"All three of us need a little chat," smiles the man with an evil grin.

"This time it's about?" Jim's smile has now faded as he realized it might be another torture.

"Our original plan failed," nodded the guard, "but we have a plan b."

"You always have flaws in your system," Mike's sarcastic tone comes out, once again.

"Oh," he rolled his eyes, "Is that so?"

"Is that so," Michael imitates his voice, "yeah it's so."

"We talked about respect," the Russian man paces back and forwarth.

"And thinking about it," Mike says, "people who kidnap you shouldn't be really respected."

"You're upset, I get that," nodded the guard, "but when you fail a math test, being upset won't solve the problem."

"Okay?" Mike looks confused, he wasn't even close to being talking about a math test.

"Anyways," the man took a long pause, it was almost awkward for the three of them, "we now have to tell you something."

"Yes?"

"You are luring all of your friends right here, Michael," Russian speaks.

"My friends know that isn't me," Mike is in denial of the statement.

"And when they figure that out," he paused, "they'll be looking for you."

"Dustin, Max, and Lucas can not get to this shitty place," rolls his eyes.

"But Eleven can," laughs the evil man.

"She's not in Hawkins," Mike shakes his head in fear.

"Yes, she is," replies the man, "she saw you getting swapped."

"That doesn't mean she's in Hawkins," Hopper adds.

"Than why are her and Will in the Wheeler house?" the Russian smirks, "along with Dustin, Robin, Steve, Max, and Lucas?"

"You won't hurt them," Michael shakes his head, angrily.

"No, I won't," the man agrees, "but you will."

"If you leave a mark on any of them I'll skin you!" Screams Mike, upset.

"Mike, you'll be the one skinning yourself," smirks the evil man.

"No!" Mike's tears started to stream down his face, and onto the floor.

"Don't think you can stop it," he walks over to Mike's ears, "because it's already begun."

"What the hell do you son of bitches even want?" Jim questions.

"You don't know?" he questions.

"There's a lot we don't know," Hopper adds.

The Russian started to howl with pain, the body started to turn blue, teeth started to stick out of his cheek. They were sharp teeth, almost like a shark…

"What the hell are you?" Mike shakes with fear… as does Hopper.

"I'm D-13," his voice deepened.

"You can change into things your not, as well?" questions Mike.

"D-11 was able to move things with her mind, and spy on people, D-6, D-22, and I are able to transform into different people," D-13 speaks.

"Holy shit," whispers Hopper.

"We look a lot different than D-11,'' nods 13, "and act differently as well."

"Why did you come here?" Jim asks.

"To tell you that one more member is going to be added," laughs 13.

"How can three people fit in this room?" questions Mike.

"Three can't."

"That's going to work how?" Hopper asks.

"One of you is being moved," D-13 smiles and an evil smile.

"Who?" Hopper and Mike look at each other in fear.

"Jim Hopper," nods the thing. "You will be moving to room 567, with Dr. Brenner."

It's 2:55 and Lucas is still awake. Tossing and turning due to the fear Mike will wake up and harm him. Nervous as well.

_Shit… I need to take a piss_, Lucas thinks while standing up. Silent as a mouse, he walks up the steps. Relieving himself in the toilet.

As usual, the toilet makes an obnoxious noise, as he prays no one heard him. It would be embarrassing if people tease him about this too.

Lucas washes his hands, and while opening the door, the blue shadow appears. Not giving him a second to have a reflex.

Another him appears, staring at what he thinks is his soul. Grabbing a toothbrush so he's armed, but that would do no damage.

The other Lucas stomps slowly towards him, putting out his hand to wring Lucas' neck. Tight hold causing him almost to blackout.

"Night… night," the voice was deep, just like Mike's, "don't let the Mike bite."

Lucas was knocked out right after.


	6. Chapter 6: The Clones

Eleven was the last to wake up in the morning, and when she was, everyone was on the couch, next to Mike, who was still sleeping.

"What happened?" asked El.

"Just waiting for him to awake," smiles Max.

"Everythings okay?" Eleven questions, and notices one person isn't there, "where's Lucas?"

"Oh he's at the bathroom," responds Steve.

"Lucas has been there for a while," adds Dustin, "he better be okay."

"Can't imagine why he wouldn't be," Will laughs.

"Yeah," nods Robin, "not like anything can happen."

"What are we going to do with Mike," asks Dustin, putting air-quotes around "Mike."

"Something bad happened," agrees Max.

"And they'll keep getting worse if we don't find him," Steve nods.

"Maybe if we awaken him," Will suggests, "like when I was flayed."

"That's a good idea," Dustin says.

"But be prepared for whatever will happen," Eleven adds.

"And wait for Lucas," Max adds, hands shaking with fear.

"I'll go get him," Steve makes his way to the bathroom, the door was wide open.

Lucas wasn't using the restroom, just staring at himself in the mirror. It wasn't like him to do that.

"Come on man," Steve says in his "mom voice."

"Yeah," he says in a deep, deep voice… deeper than Mike.

"Are you coming?" he starts to get annoyed.

"No," he looks at Steve with evil in his eyes, "you can't boss me around."

"Quite this bullshit and move," he throws his hands up.

"I don't want to," Steve realized his eyes were stone black, and there were multiple red flags registering in his mind.

"What is wrong with you?" Steve looks questionable at him.

"What's wrong with you?" Lucas gives him a dirty look.

"Get your butt down there," Steve points, "or your ass is grass."

"If you say so," Lucas walks past him, brushing his shoulder.

Steve follows behind him, very confused due to what just happened.

"What took you so long?" Max looks at them, confused.

"Steve used the restroom too," Lucas lies in their faces.

"Oh," Robin looks confused.

"Are you okay?" Dustin looks over at Lucas, "you look sick."

Will chimes in, "and not a good sick, like you need to see your dad, kind of sickness."

"I feel great," they all realized his voice, it was so deep, almost like Mike.

"Your voice?" questions Max.

"What the hell am I supposed to say to that Maxine?" he looks confused.

"What did you just call me?" Max hates it when she's called that.

"M-a-x-i-n-e," Lucas rolls his eyes, "it wasn't necessary for me to spell that out."

"You never call me Maxine," Max shakes her head.

"You never looked so fat in that coat," Lucas rambled.

"What did you say to me?" her eyes widened in anger.

"You never looked so fat in that coat," he smirks, "or do I need to spell out fat, as well?"

"Lucas," Max was more hurt than sad, "you made yourself clear."

Max goes over, far away from Lucas.

"Dude," Dustin hits Lucas on the head.

"Saying that shit to girls hurts their feelings," Steve shakes his head.

"The truth gotta be told," Lucas shrugs his shoulders.

"Not like that!" Will rolls his eyes.

"You would never have said that to her," Steve thinks super hard.

"People change."

"Not in one night!" Will screams.

Dustin nods but stays silent.

"And that doesn't give you the right to say that," Steve throws his hands up.

"She's gotta hear the truth from someone," Lucas smirks.

Finally, Steve thinks he connected the dots together… Lucas was swapped out by whatever kidnapped Michael a few days earlier.

"Max!" Eleven runs over to her.

"Are you okay?" Robin neals down to them.

"Why would he say that shit to me?" Max wasn't showing the tears forming in her eyes.

"Boys are assholes," Robin shares to her, "and stab you in the back."

"Steve's an ass to you?" Eleven looks confused.

"We're just friends," Robin throws her hands, "for the hundredth time."

"I guess all of us always assumed you two were dating," nods Max.

"It won't happen," Robin felt tired of always hiding behind a mask, "because I'm da- dating someone else."

"Who is it!" Max looks intrigued.

"And the lucky boy is?" questions Eleven.

"Her name is Tammy," Robin looks down at her shoes, "Tammy T."

Eleven and Max at first lay in silence, not knowing how to reply to that.

"O my God," Eleven pulls her in for a hug.

"Congrats," smiles Max, going into a hug as well.

"Please don't tell anyone," Robin begs.

"Cross my heart," smiles El.

"How many people know?" asks Maxine.

"Steve, you two, and Tammy."

"You're one of the strongest people we know," nods Max.

"You two are the coolest kids I know," laughs Robin.

A lot of commotion comes from the boy's area. The girls look over to see them tying up, Lucas.

"What's going on?" the girls stand up and pace over to them.

"Lucas has been swapped," Dustin tells them.

"So he wasn't the one talking shit about you," Will adds.

"That's a minny relief," laughs Max.

"But know we gotta worry about two clones," Steve adds.

"Double the amount," Robin shakes her head.

"We have the advantage," Eleven whispers.

"Huh?" everyone asks.

"We have the advantage!" she scream this time and was heard.

"Eleven's right!" nods Robin.

"Give em' a test," Steve's eyes widened.

"How are we going to do so?" Dustin looks confused.

"If we fail, all of us will be dead," Will responds.

"And if we don't?" Max turns her head.

"Than we will get to Mike and Lucas," smiles Steve.

"Let's get this show on the road," Eleven smiles at the thought of getting to Mike. And at this point, anything was worth it.

Joyce, Murray, Nancy, and Jonathan were on the road super early. The snow lightened out throughout the night. Driving at full speed to Hawkins.

For the first time in months, the feeling was in each of their stomachs. And the realization that their happily ever after was nowhere near close.

"If Jim is alive," paused Joyce.

"Than we will find him," nods Murray.

"But he could be anywhere at this point," Joyce shakes her head.

"Logically," paused Murray, "he's somewhere in Russia."

"Russia is the biggest country in the world!" yells Joyce.

"Yes," he agrees, "but they can't go anywhere… without us finding them."

"What if they want us to find them?" Joyce asks crossing her arms.

"That we'd know about this a lot sooner," Murray yells back.

"Jonathan," Nancy pauses, "has that car been following us?"

"What do you mean?" he asks.

A black car, with tinted windows, has been following them ever since the gas station. Nancy realized it ten minutes ago but didn't speak up.

"That pervert has been following us for minutes now," she replies.

Jonathan turns around for a split second, and got the feeling in his stomach… the feeling of evil lingering behind them.

"Shit," whispers Jonathan.

"What do we do?" asks Nancy, trembling with fear.

Nancy twirls her hair, as she has no idea what to do.

"They know where we're heading," whispers Jonathan, barely loud enough for Nancy to hear what he said.

"Bugged," mouths Nancy.

The black car starts to speed up and rams into Jonathan's car.

"AHHH!" both scream in agony.

Murray and Joyce were rammed into by Jonathan. Luckily, there were no other cars so there wasn't a scene.

The black car suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, and a mysterious tall man walks out. Matching his car, wearing all black.

Joyce, Murray, Nancy, and Jonathan all get out of their cars and stand in a line.

The sinister man walks towards them, very slowly. Joyce studied him and realized he had a gun in his front pocket.

"He's armed," whispers Joyce.

"Here we go again," Murray reaches into his back pocket, and pulls out a small handgun.

"Well, well, well," his dark deep voice spoke.

"Y-you n-n-eed something?" Jonathan stutters in fear, it's been a little while since his last battle with evil.

"To kill all of you," now spoke with a thick Russian accent.

"Not if we do it first," Nancy replies.

"With what?" he says back, "with your hands?"

Murray pulls out his gun and screams at him, "Eat lead dick head!"

Murray then pummeled him down to the ground, shooting him repeatedly in the chest. Shooting in fear of death.

"Murray!" yells Joyce not looking at the dead man.

"Guys," Murray used every bullet.

"What?" Nancy's wrapped in Jonathan's arms.

"This bitch wasn't human," he says in a questionable tone.

"What?" Jonathan takes Nancy to go down and look at it.

The body was bleeding blue and was swelling up in the face. Melting down like the flayed did a few months ago.

"Here," Nancy grabs its hand, "it's no human because it has D-13 on it."

"Holy shit," Joyce starts to shake, knowing this will affect Will, if it hasn't already, "we need to get back to Hawkins now."

"We can't possibly drive this car," Jonathan points at it.

Murray digs threw the dead guy's pockets, "what are you doing?" asks Nancy.

"Getting our ride," grabs his keys and walks over to the nonhuman's car.

"So we're going to just take this mans car?" Joyce asks confused.

"You want a way to get to Hawkins faster," Murray points out.

"And this dude wasn't human,'' Nancy shakes her head.

"Plus we may be bugged again," Jonathan adds.

Joyce agrees, and they embark on their journey to Hawkins once again.

Lucas wakes up in a cold sweat. Debating if what he experienced was a dream or real. Opening his eyes to see Mike.

"Why are you untied?" Lucas asks confused.

"Huh?" Mike makes a weird face.

"You're Mike?" his eyes get huge.

"Yeah," nods Mike.

"Mike, Mike Wheeler," Lucas rambles on, "like Wheeler Mike? W-h-e-e-l-e-r?"

"Does the boot fit?" Mike realized that the clone was talking to Lucas, not the actual one (him).

"It's you," smiles Lucas.

"How's Eleven?" Mike's voice got eager since he'll finally find out how she's been.

"Worrying about you," responds Lucas, "all of us are."

"I'd much rather be there than here," scouts Mike.

"Where are we?" Asks Lucas.

"Some shitty place in Russia," laughs Mike, "and you won't believe who's here!"

"I'm not in the mood to guess, Mike," Lucas sits upon the boxspring.

"Hopper," nods Michael.

"The chief of police?" his eyes get huge.

"This is what I thought too," smiles Mikael.

"Damn," Lucas looks down at the floor.

"It's crazy," nods Mike.

"How we gonna get out of here?" asks Lucas, knowing Hopper has a plan.

"I'm not sure when," Mike pauses, "but Hopper is going to turn off the electricity, and that will give back El's powers."

"Wait?" he looks confused, "Eleven's powers? How does that have anything to do with us?"

"Remember how she was bitten in Starcourt?" asks Michael.

"Yeah."

"These people but a block in her powers," Mike nods, "and only let her use them when they want her too."

"She's not some labrat that they can treat like a dog!" Lucas got upset after hearing what they're doing to Eleven.

"But they still put a label on her," Michael shakes his head.

"And by shutting off the power," Lucas paused, "it'll give Eleven back her powers."

"Precisely," Mike says, "and we get our asses out of this place."

A bunch of tapping comes from the other wall, and they soon realize, it's morse code.

"Do you know what he's saying?" asks Mike.

"Kind of," they both run over to the wall.

_Tap tap tap tap … … … … tap tap … tap tap … tap _

"What did it say?" asks Mike.

"Hopper," replies Lucas.

"Jim must be on the other side!" Mike says a little bit louder.

… … … … … _tap tap tap … … tap tap tap tap tap … _

"Tonight," paused Lucas.

"Tonight will be our big escape," Mike smiled.

"Did they know what we said?" Dr. Brenner asked Hopper.

"They are smart kids," Jim is pacing around the room.

"I'll finally get to see Eleven," he smirks.

"Hate to break it to you," Hopper puts out his hands, "El is happy with me."

"I'm the one who raised her," nods "Pappa."

"Yeah to speak shitty English," Hopper rolls his eyes, "you never cared for her."

"When are we going to get out of here?" he asks, upset.

"I'll knock out the guard and steal his uniform go down to the final floor, and turn off the power," he paused to take a breath, "and then we blow this sucker down."


	7. Chapter 7: The Test

"How are we going to do this?" asks Eleven.

"I guess wake them up?" replies Steve.

"Be prepared," Dustin breathes heavily.

"They might attack us," agrees Robin.

"Definitely will," speaks William.

"Here we go," Max pours out chemicals on a cotton ball to awaken them.

They both wake up, but this time their eyes are red. Deep dark blood red.

"What?" Mike says angrily, in a deep voice. Way deeper than before.

"All of us want to talk," Steve steps forward.

"Why the hell do you want to talk to us?" Lucas' lips start to tremble.

"Just need some answers," replies Robin, walking up with Steve, "no more bullshit."

"You all are bullshit!" Mike screams, trying to untangle himself.

"Calm down!" Eleven screams.

"I'll show you calming down," Lucas closes his eyes and starts to jump.

"Just stop," Max runs up to Steve.

"We can't stop," Lucas steps out of what he was doing.

"And you can't stop us," laughs Mike, "we already have won."

"It's never over," Dustin shakes his head, "because of everyone here, we've had to fight the Demogorgon, demidogs, the flayed, and now you guys."

"This time it will be," Mike closes his eyes and starts to drool, "because we plan on killing all of you, except D-11."

"What?" Robin's eyes got huge.

"All of you will be dead," Lucas smirked evilly.

"Not if we kill you first," Max stats sternly.

"I hope you know," paused Lucas, "you could have killed us a few moments ago, but you chose not to."

"Shit," whispers Will.

"And Eleven will witness everyone she loves die!" smiles Mike.

"No!" El shakes her head. '

"It was you who killed Michael," smirks "Lucas."

"He's not dead," Eleven screams at the thought of him being dead.

"Than where is the little Wheeler?" smiles the fake Mike.

"In the place where you took him!" Eleven starts to tear up.

"We took him to his grave," laughs "Mike."

"They're messing with you," Steve yells at Eleven.

"We only speak the truth," Lucas responds with a sarcastic feel.

"You are literally not the truth right now," Max rolls her eyes.

"All we're saying," paused Lucas, "Eleven will be at everyone's funeral."

"I've almost died several times," Dustin buts in, "and you two will not be the ones to kill me."

"We're not going down without a hard fight," Will clutched his hands in fists of rage.

"Eat this bitch," Robin grabs a large led pole and smacks Lucas on the head with it.

"Did your mother tell you anything about respect?" Lucas grabs his head, it now has a dent in it, but no effect on him, what so ever.

"You're the last person who should be talking about respect," Steve gets in front of all the kids to protect them.

"We have very high respect for each other," Mike's eyes start to widen.

"Your high would be about the height of a penny," Max rolls her eyes.

"Anyone ever told you to keep your mouth shut?" asks the Lucas clone.

"Everyone," Max winks.

"Maybe you should start listening to them," nods Michael.

"If you were real," paused Max, "and you're not, you'd know I don't listen to anyone."

"Is that why you have such a big mouth?" asks the Lucas clone.

Max puts up the middle finger, "this is about to be put up your ass if you keep talking."

"The finger is up!" Mike makes a joke about it, not taking humans seriously.

"I can," paused Max, "and will do a lot more than this."

"I'd like to see you try," Lucas smiles.

"You sure? It'd be the last thing you'd ever see," Robin chimes in.

"Glad," laughs Lucas, "too much ugly in the human world.

"Hey!" screams Steve, "all girls are beautiful in their own way."

"Not the way I see it," Michael laughs evilly.

"Let me tell you," Will sounds pissed, "if you lay a hand on any of them, it'll be your funeral."

"You all must really care about each other," smirks Lucas.

"Friends that have become family," Dustin nods.

"And that's the weakness your group has," tells Mike.

"How?" Robin looks confused.

"Y'all would give your own life to save a friend," Lucas reveals.

"A good friend is worth dying for," Dustin squints at them.

"Now we know how to beat you guys," laughs Lucas.

"We already did," Mike's eyes get huge.

"How?" Will asks.

"Why do you think Mike isn't here," asks Lucas, "or Lucas."

"They're your bait," Steve whispers.

"And they will be dead in a number of days," Mike smiles.

"Y-you're bluffing," Eleven doesn't believe it what was just said.

"Is it bluffing when it's already scheduled?" asks Lucas.

"Don't listen to them Eleven," Will yells over to her.

"I'm not," Lucas replies all sinister, "friends don't lie, right?"

"You guys are not our friends," Dustin shakes his head.

"That hurts my feelings," Mike shakes his head.

"A real stab in the heart," Lucas adds.

"Just give us Mike and Lucas back," Max begs them.

"Not without a fight," Lucas smirks.

"Than a fight, there shall be," Steve punches Lucas in the nose. It hurt Steve almost as much as it affected Lucas.

"I guess you have some fire in you after all," Lucas starts to imitate Billy.

"What the?" Steve looks confused.

"You know what happens when I'm mad," Lucas starts to change into Billy, but only his head, "I break things."

"That's not Billy, Max," yells Dustin.

"You're a coward," yells MAx at them.

"A coward?" Mike looks confused.

"You hid behind a mask," replies Max, "and that makes you fake."

"I'll show you the real me," Lucas closed his eyes, Billy's head melts away, as does the Lucas body. A bluish-white skin tone appears with a monster. Teeth pop out of the mouth, as the only thing to stay, the red eyes.

"You will regret this," Mike copies Lucas, and everyone knows what is coming.

Mike and Lucas, lose the look. A blue scales person pops out of them. The two then get rows of teeth, some popping out of their skin.

"What the fu-" Max gets cut off by Steve.

"Take cover!"

One of them lunges at Steve, tackling him to the ground. Steve struggles and struggles until eventually Steve stops moving. They start to suck Steve's face.

All the kids are frozen in fear, as the other one is inches away from them.

"Is this real enough for you, Maxine?" it asks her coming closer.

Robin looks over at Steve, lifeless Steve. She then realized that there was still a big pole in her hand. Then, runs over to the one attacking Steve.

Lifts the pole behind her right ear, and stabs it in the evil thing in its ear. The pole goes straight through its head, causing the blue blood to fly in the hair.

He lets go of Steve to reveal a bloody mess on his face, and to Robin's luck, Steve is still breathing.

"What the hell bitch?" the thing comes closer to Robin, with the pole above his head.

"No!" Robin closes her eyes, as she expects that she'll get impaled by the rode.

With seconds of her eyes closed, she opens them to see Steve has tackled it onto the ground.

She gets up to see the other one going after the kids, on her left, it a wooden baseball bat. This one doesn't have nails in it though.

Robin grabs it and goes over there, takes on big swing and hits in right in the face. That caused it to fly backward and dent the wall.

"Kids arm yourselves!" Robin screams.

Eleven grabs a screwdriver, Max picked up a hammer, Dustin grabbed a Lucas' wrist rocket, and Will got ahold of a lamp.

Steve was able to join their huddle, as they say, always better together. Robin and Steve switch their weapons, as Steve prefers a bat.

"Let's blow this sucker high," Steve yells running over to them.

"Hell yeah!" Dustin smacks on of them across the head.

Taking punches, and being punched the long battle goes on for minutes.

Everyone getting bloody and getting bruised. Screams that will hurt their voices tomorrow.

"Now!" yells one of the clones.

They brush their hands back, a force sent them way back, crashing their bodies on the couch.

The two clones walk up to them and deliver some final words, "Komm ins einsame Tal."

And then, they disappear without a trace.

"What the hell just happened?" asks Dustin.

"Those bitches gave us a code," Robin is still shaking.

"Did you get it on your walky-talky or whatever it's called?" asks Steve.

Dustin gets out of his bag, and plays the walky-talky… and to their luck, it was recorded.

"Now all we have to do is translate it," Max takes a heavy breath.

"We need to do it quickly," Eleven says, "before it's too late."

"Don't worry," Will puts his hand on her shoulder, "they won't harm him too badly."

"Will's got a point," Steve agrees, "they want us… well, you to get their, El."

"All we have to do is show up when they're not expecting us," Max nods.

"But for now, we worry about cracking the code," Robin suggests, "the quicker we get it done, the quicker we find and rescue Lucas and Michael."

A loud thud comes from above the stairs, "what's the code?"

"So when is Hopper going to get the plan done?" asks Lucas.

"We wait for him to come and get us, then we will know," Mike responds not looking at Lucas.

"I want to apologize for the last few months," Lucas sighs.

"For what?" Mike looks up at him.

"I was a real douche about you losing Eleven," he reveals, "flaunting my relationship in front of you."

"Look," he shakes his head, "you have nothing to be sorry for."

"I thought Max and I had a more important relationship than our friendship," admits Lucas, "but I need both of them."

"But you don't need to be sorry for that," Michael shakes his head, again, "how is it right for me to take you away from your girl?"

"Max and I may not last forever," he nods, "relationships come and go, but some friendships you know will stay for life."

"Eleven and I always left you guys when we wanted to be alone," paused Mike, "and how is that right of me to ask differently of you and Max? It's not fair for me to do."

"But you guys have different circumstances," disagrees Lucas, "you lost each other… but continued to fight for each other."

"If you're truly passionate for one and other, no battle is too big," Mike tells Lucas, "and when you love someone you'll do anything to get them back to you. Even if it hurts you."

"Damn," laughs Lucas, "when did we become all deep and shit?"

"We grew up," nods Michael.

"No more D&D," frowns Lucas, it's odd because they both forgot about that game.

"Friends turned to family," Mike paused.

"And months turned into years," Lucas started to form tears in his eyes, "I don't want to grow up."

"We have our entire lives ahead of us," Mike tells him, "we have to live it."

"And not waste a second," Lucas nodded.

"Are you crying?" Mike finally realized that he was.

"No," he rubbed his eyes.

"It's all good dude," Mike moves closer to him, "sometimes it's okay for a boy to cry."

"Our lives are moving faster than I want them to," Lucas reveals.

"But we're getting closer to so many things," admits Mike.

"Maybe in the senior house we will be fighting Demogorgons," laughs Lucas.

"Most definitely," nods Mike, giving a smile.

"Ready?" Hopper turns and asks Pappa.

"Ready," he speaks.

The guard is going to check their cell, and when he does, Hopper is going to beat him up, steal his uniform, turn off the power, get Mike and Lucas to safety, and then burn this place down to the ground.

A guard enters the room, and when he does, Jim tackles him to the ground, knocking him out.

Dr. Brenner got cold feet and ran out of the room, getting shot in the head, killing him instantly.

In the nick of time, Hopper changed. Two new guards walked down the hallway and over Dr. Brenner's body. His lifeless body was bleeding out.

Jim walked over to the steps, a long walk was ahead of him. Hundreds of steps going up, and down.

"Holy shit," whispers Hopper, starting his adventure down the steps.

Thankfully, none of the guards were watching him closely. It took a long time for Hopper to be able to get down to the floor, and when he does, a lot happened…


	8. Chapter 8: The Found Short Chapter

"Mom?" Will's mouth dropped to the floor.

"Will!" Joyce runs over to him, slanders him in a huge hug.

"Guys," Nancy paused. "Where's Mike?"

"And Lucas?" Jonathan looked around.

"Some one's outta tell them," Steve looked up at them.

"Tell us what?" Murray buts in.

"Mike and Lucas were taken," Robin spits out.

"Where," Nancy's eyes got huge, "and who took them?"

"Some motherfuckers," Dustin speaks up.

"Are those things back here too?" Joyce stops hugging Will.

"Did you guys encounter them too?" asks Max, standing up, walking over to Eleven.

"We got attacked on the road," Murray tells them, "almost died."

"They attacked us," Steve shakes his head.

"And stole Mike and Lucas?" Joyce asks, putting her hands on her hips.

"Correct," Will nods.

"They hurt him," Eleven shakes her head.

"Mike?" Nancy raised her eyebrows, "or Lucas?"

"Both of them," El closed her eyes, as her head pounded with a headache.

"Where are they?" Jonathan squats down next to Eleven.

Dustin plays what the radio picked up, a bunch of random sounding words.

"That's the code," Dustin whispers.

"Murray you know Russian, right?" asks Max, "they were part of the Russian army."

"That's no Russian," Murray whispers.

"What?" Robin's eyes got huge.

"I said that isn't Russian," he raised his voice, looking up at them.

"Than what is it?" Will looks confused.

"Those bitches used German on us," Murray shakes his head.

"How are we going to translate that?" Eleven looks worried.

"Anyone here knows German?" Joyce throws her hands up frantically.

"I took Russian," Nancy whispers.

"Huh?" Steve looks over at her.

Nancy jumps up and runs up the stairs, "I learned German!"

Everyone got up to follow her into the room. Nancy got a large textbook down from her shelf. It had German to English.

"Holy shit!" Dustin smiles.

"Play it again," Robin hops down next to Nancy, to help her.

Dustin throws the radio down next to them as they start to translate.

Everyone else paces around the room, eager but nervous due to the fact, it never left.

"Guys," Nancy says rolling down her sleeves.

"These bitches didn't work hard enough," laughs Robin.

"What's the code?" asks Will, jumping down next to them.

"Come to Lonely Valley," Nancy shrugs her shoulders.

"Where the hell is that?" asks Max, "it can't be around here."

"That's because it's not even in this country," Murray admits.

"Murray," Joyce paused, "where is it?"  
"That hell hole is in," Murray paused to look up at them all.

"Kamchatka, Russia," Steve cuts him off.

"How did you know that?" Murray looks at him confused, after all, he stole his light.

"Geography," Steve smiles.

The door suddenly slammed shut, as a green shadow now appears. Voices come from the green lights.

"Come play with us, Dustin," the creepy voices changes to a mix of Mikes, and a mix of Lucas'.

"It's a trap!" Steve screams.

"But so pretty," Dustin starts to walk to the mysterious green light.

"Stop!" screams RObin, trying to grab ahold of his wrist.

"I want to play," Dustin repeated. "I want to play, I want to play, I want to play, I need to play," his voice suddenly got super deep.

"Damnit," Steve runs over to Dustin, trying to get him to look away from the terror.

"What are you doing," Dustin started to get violent.

"I want to play now," Steve lets go of Dustin, as they start to walk to the green light.

"Stop!" everyone screams in fright.

"Guys, please listen to me," Will starts to cry as well.

The Wheeler house feels like it's flipping all over the place. Greenlight started to widen, showing a whole. Until no one could hold their grip, started to fall in, one by one.


	9. Chapter 9: The Final Battle

Hopper walks down the steps, trying to get to the end. Walking for what it seemed like ages. While, Lucas and Mike, are there, waiting in anticipation. Nervous, not knowing when the plan will fall threw.

"How much longer?" Lucas whispers.

"Can't be that much," Mike snaps back.

"It's working, right?" asks Lucas.

"Why wouldn't it be," he starts to shake.

"You heard the gunshots," Lucas shakes his head, "it wasn't Hopper, right?"

"Let's not think of it," replies Michael.

"We need to move if it was him," Lucas looks up at Mike.

"Do you have the match?" asks Mike.

"Yes," nodded Lucas.

"Than let's improvise," Mike starts to head to the door.

As they do so, commotion is coming from the steps. Somehow, their door wasn't locked.

"Should we risk it?" whispers Lucas.

"What's life without a little risk," Mike opens the door, and peeks out, "we're clear."

They both move out the door, and over to the commotion. Not knowing what their excuse would be if they were caught.

Four guards were standing there, arguing. Talking in their native tongue. One was fat, as the others were skinny. As Mike and Lucas stood there, an alarm when off, lights started to flash, and they both knew- Hopper's plan has worked.

"Дерьмо (shit)," the fat one looked right at the two troublesome boys.

"получить эти американские мрази (get those American scums)," the one started to charge after them.

"Run," Mike and Lucas both screamed, but going opposite directions.

Mike ran left, as Lucas ran right. The darkness wouldn't help all that much because of light flickers on and off.

Hopper runs up the stairs, as does all the other Russians. That helped Jim look more in place… not a black sheep.

Jim, always looked behind his back though, while his eyes were scanning the room, on the top floor, he saw something. Mike was running. He knew it was Mike, due to his stupid hair cut.

Seeing Mike made him run even faster. If anything happened to him, Hop would never forgive himself for the incident.

The guard was right behind Mike, he could feel his heavy breathing on his neck.

In size they were compatible, so a small brawl may happen. Mike was lucky he didn't run into any other guards. The fat one was all the way behind, it'd be impossible for him to catch up.

His side started to hurt, all his energy was almost gone. In fact, Mike almost quite running. But his prayers were soon answered by a hero.

The guy behind him stopped in his tracks, and a familiar walk approached him. Mike aware it could have been a trap, still stoop on his toes. And quickly hopped around to see Hopper standing there. The guard was on the floor, in a pile of blood.

"Where's Lucas?" Hopper breathes heavily.

"I don't know," paused Mike.

Lucas quickly lost track of the Russian guard. He hid in a closet, all bundled up in a ball. Fearing the moment of his demise.

Whispering bible verses to help him calm down. Hearing footsteps from everyone running out of the building. Lucas was also able to see threw a hole everyone running in a panic. Thankfully, no one looked in this closet.

The others were falling. But the fall only lasted for a few seconds. Like a short dream almost. In a blink of an eye, they were in an unknown location. The location was chaotic, loud noises and not enough silence.

"They're here," nods Eleven.

"You are sure," Murray raises his eyebrows.

"I know we are," Eleven walks forwards, in an attempt to find Mike.

"El," Max yells at her, "you can't go all stray on us, have you ever seen horror movies? You'll be killed in an instant!"

"Max has a point," Dustin agrees with her.

"These bitches will be sorry," Steve walks up with Eleven.

"Let's go find them before it's too late," Will, and the others, go up with them.

The crew makes their way down hallways, hallways that seem never-ending. But, they all know the commotion is getting louder, meaning they'll finally know what's been going on… and how they're going to face reality once again.

Joyce stops dead in her tracks, after hearing moans of fear.

"Do you hear that?" a questionable tone comes to her voice.

"It's probably your old ears, mom," Jonathan rolled his eyes.

"No," Nancy listens, "I hear something too."

"Maybe it's your granny ears," Will snaps back at Jonathan.

"Haha," he gives a fake laugh.

Max starts to walk closer to a closet, and it's where the ominous sound is coming from.

"In here," Max mouths with her mouth.

Closing her eyes, she opens the closet door. And to everyone's surprise, it's Lucas.

"Max?" Lucas' eyes get huge.

"Lucas!" smiles Max.

"Max!" he jumps out of the closet, with his arms open.

"Lucas," Max goes in for a hug.

They hug for a while, exchanging words sometimes. One of the times where they aren't fighting, no one interrupts them.

"I never wanna lose your touch again," Lucas whispers to Max.

"Me neither," Max wipes away the tears, the tears that formed in her eyes.

"Sorry to break up the reunion," Robin buts in, "but we gotta move."

"Our bad," Lucas removes his grip around Max.

"Next stop, Mike," Eleven moves quickly.

"What about Lucas?" Mike puts up a struggle.

"He's a smart kid," whispers Hopper.

"And that makes it okay?" screams Michael.

"Lucas will know his way around,'' Hopper snaps back.

"He's barely been here a few days!" Mike is getting worked up.

"If we wait for him, we die," Jim paused, "If we go, we live again."

"Yeah," Mike shakes his head, "with the guilt we left and killed Lucas!"

"I've been in this shit hole for months," Hop grabs Mike's arm, "not staying here any longer."

"Do you know how selfish that makes you sound?" Michael squints.

"A selfish son of a bitch I've been the past few months," Jim rolls his eyes, "Lucas will be smart enough to get out by himself."

"No he won't," a deep voice says from behind.

"What the-"

They turn around and see three blueish things behind them. Three figures, that are definitely not human- or Russian.

"Who are you?" Mike starts to back away, they were almost out of the building.

"So close," the middle one spoke, with a raspy voice.

"But yet so far," lefty throws out his hands.

"Your dumbasses lead us straight to you," nodded the one on the right.

"So you knew what we were planning?" asks Mike, with fear.

"We know everything," middle spoke while moving closer.

"Why didn't you stop us?" Jim puts his hand in his pocket.

"A plan brought all of your little friends as well," righty laughs.

"If you lay a goddamn finger on them," Mike yells, "I'll kill you."

"You are too scared to kill us, 'Frog Face' you've had plenty of opportunities."

"Duck," Hopper yells at Mike.

Jim swings his hand, with a sharp metal object in the other, hitting all three of them in the face. One hit the floor in pain.

"You're going to regret this," middle comes charging at them.

Both of them fly to opposite sides of the room. All they need is to get out of the two doors.

One attacked Hopper, while the angrier one attacked Michael. Throwing Mike to the floor, his slobber got all over his bowl cut.

Taunting Mike, pretending to eat his hands and fingers. Hopper was getting beaten by the other one, so there was no one Mike could call out for help.

The thing threw up his hand, getting Mike to focus on his nails. The nail was growing. Sharp nail, that could cut through the skin.

Mike was stuck to the floor, as the slimy mess was attaching it to him.

Using every last bit of strength Michael had, but it wasn't enough for it to take effect.

His nail was now as sharp as a knife, and as powerful as a bullet. The wound would be fatal, probably killing him by bleeding out. Michael, even closed his eyes, as he knows he's not going to live.

"I'm sorry kid," Hopper whispers, closing his eyes as he doesn't want to see Mikes's fate.

"Any last words?" the blue monster reachers above his head.

"Stop," Eleven rushes into the room.

She held her hands as if she was using her powers. Screaming as she felt a tingly sense again. Power, for the first time in months, came out.

Eleven flung the flesh-eating monster off of Mike, hearing the splatter on the wall was a relaxing feeling to all of them.

"Let's blow this sucker to the ground," Murray drops his match on the floor.

It caused flames in the wall. While El tried to run over to Mike, Joyce grabbed her arms to get her to come outside with them.

She screams, but Joyce doesn't let go until they made their way outside.

Everyone was accounted for, except one. Mike was still inside the burning flames.

"Where's Mike?" Nancy starts to panic.

"God shit," Hopper starts to run closer to the burning doors.

"What are you doing?" yells Joyce, hugging crying Eleven.

"Something crazy," Hopper enters the building.

It was easy to find Mike, his pale body almost looked lifeless.

Hopper runs over to it, trying to save the last bit of life he may have. It was a struggle trying to pick him up, to do the saliva has glued him to the ground.

Jim now has a hard time breathing. Hard breathing while trying to chisel him out of the filth.

"Come on," coughs Jim.

It took almost two minutes for Mike to come loose enough to pull him off the ground.

Jim through him over his back, and running out of the fire field. Hopper didn't know if Mike will make it out alive, or if he even is.

If it took Jim two more seconds to get Mike, they both would've been blown to smithereens. Hop was coughing while running over to the others. Mike wasn't breathing that well, maybe not even at all.

"Goddamnit," Eleven turns away from Hopper, it hasn't registered in anyone's mind, that Hopper didn't die. The main focus is on Mike.

Hop, lays him down on the low cut green grass, giving him CPR to try to save him.

Lucas sits down next to Mike, "remember the time we went into a sugar rush that one Halloween? I threw up all over your brand new couch?"

"Or that time when we were taking a test in Cavonals class, and I asked if the answer was A, B, or C? And you burped so loud three times to show that the answer was C?" laughs Dustin.

"Or when we were out to dinner at a fancy restaurant for Nana's birthday. Mom got red wine and you were pulling the white table cloth. Surprise it ended up all over my brand new white dress. It was expensive MICHAEL!" Nancy smiles at the not so old memory.

"Or when we were little and playing hide and seek. We ran into the neighbor's house and pissed our names in their grass. Mr. Black was so angry you could see the steam coming out of his ears. Pulled us by the ears and said, 'imma tell your mommas you been a bad boy?' he was so stupid, our moms didn't even care," smiles Will.

"I love you, Mike," Eleven turns around in tears, "please come back to me… I need you."

"Come on kid," Hopper pounds Mike's chest in a final act to save.

Mike, finally starts to cough. Coughs out ashes at first, then it goes to water.

"I need you too, Eleven," his voice sounded groggy… like he has a frog in his throat.

Two Months Later

It's moving days for the Hoppers. Eleven and Hopper bought a house in Hawkins, actually right next to the Wheelers. Joyce finally decided that Hawkins was where she belonged, and dragged her kids back to the old scary town.

Her house was still on the market, so it was purchased. Jim and Joyce finally decided it was good for them to date. And to move on. But, they both want to give it a little bit before they move in together… so nothing bad happens again.

"How does it feel to be back?" Mike holds Eleven's hand.

"Feels like I've never left," she smiles at him.

"For the first time in my life," Mike paused.

"I feel hopeful," Eleven cuts him off before he can say.

"How did you know I was going to say that?" Mike looks confused.

"It's an emotion we all are feeling right now," El admits to him.

"You're perfect Eleven Hopper," Michael twirls her around.

"Not as perfect as you, Michael Wheeler," they lean in for a kiss.

"Three inches," Max yells stuffing her face with popcorn.

"You two are literally in Mike's room with the door closed," Eleven rolls her eyes and laughs.

"Come her Max, let's make out forever," Lucas jokes.

"Whatever," Mike rolls his eyes as well.

"It'll be fun to go on a double date with them," nods Eleven.

"Kiss me beautiful," Mike pulls her in closer.

"It's really happened," Joyce nodded her head.

"What are you talking about?" asks Hopper, coming up behind her.

"You being alive," laughs Joyce.

"Why's that surprising?" Jim smiles.

"All of us were convinced you died, Hopper," Joyce admits.

"I wanted to be, considering I was in that hell hole," Hopper crosses his arms.

"But the world was empty without you in it," Joyce shakes her head.

"Really?" Jim smiles.

"No," Joyce jokes.

"Come on," Jim paused, "you know you love me."

"I do," Joyce smiles, "wouldn't be in Hawkins if I didn't."

"Is it finally done?" Steve asks putting his paintbrush in a cup.

"Think so," Dustin smiles.

"Where are we going to keep it?" Robin asks.

"Let's dig a hole and put it under there," Will suggests.

"And open it in twenty-seven years," Nancy adds.

"Can we make a promise," Eleven asks.

"Depends on what it is," jokes Lucas.

"Lucas!" Max slaps him on the shoulder.

"It was a joke," Lucas smirks, "but yes, anything."

"Promise we will be friends forever," El looks up at everyone.

"You kids have a special bond," shares Steve.

"Shared trauma," laughs Nancy and Jonathan.

"And February 23, 2014?" Max asks.

"That date," Mike laughs, "we might have flying cars."

"Let's not worry about the future," Will says, "and let's worry about today."

"Deep," Robin laughs.

"Ready to go put this to bed?" Dustin asks.

"After some lemonade," Steve runs over to the fridge.

They leave the time capsule on the table, it's a box of fun memories and entries of the adventure they've been through… as life long friends.

The End


End file.
